Saturday, December 18, 2010

So I haven't posted for a little while on account of being so busy with my first semester of pursuing my MFA in Fine Art at Queens College.

Today was the final crit, and I thought it was appropriate that I use this time to reflect on it.

So over the course of this semester I've learned a lot. I've taken the chance in this program to develop, work, create, and pick up as much as I can from all of the tools I have available now. It's already proving to be the most valuable art experience I've had so far, and I can't wait to see whats ahead.

The content of my work has taken a little bit of an interesting turn or two, that I look forward to further investigating. I've taken an indefinite break from the corporate office peon imagery and moved on to a slightly more generalized subject matter, using what I know from how I feel about being an artist as a jumping off point- for example using Artist in Bandages as a reference to Van Gough's self portrait with the bandaged ear, and Swiss Army Knife as a metaphor for the utilitarian aspect of making work. Most recently, I've begun a work in progress that stands as vacation from the figure (unless absolutely necessary) in a painting titled Meat, which depicts a slab of mystery meat stuck with forks and knives, one carving through the slab. Look for a posting of it both on my website and the blog soon. For more of the work I've been working on the past few months visit my facebook page.

Thank you everyone for your support- it means the world to me.

Good luck to all of this semesters MFA graduates- do us proud.

Best

Aaron Schraeter

PS- I thought I would a shout out to my first two patrons of paintings. Thank you for bringing me into your homes.